Blind bowling assembly



United States Patent 3,266,803 BLIND BOWLING ASSEMBLY Bernhardt Stahmer, 1509 Chicago St., Omaha, Nebr. Filed Sept. 23, 1963, Ser. No. 310,681 2 Olaims. (Cl. 27354) This invention relates to bowling and more particularly it is an object of this invention to provide an addition to a bowling alley for making blind bowling possible.

My concept of blind bowling is that there would be high entertainment value for an audience at a bowling alley and also for a television viewing audience if they could see bowling being done by experts under conditions such that a curtain would prevent the experts from seeing the pins, the scoring achieved by a thrown ball being made visible to a television audience by means of a camera mounted for taking a picture of the pins. In this way the immediate score achieved by a thrown ball is known to the television audience but not to the bowler himself.

By closed circuit television or regular television, the scoring could also be made known to those in the audience at the bowling alley who could not see the pins because of the curtain.

A further object is to provide a curtain specifically constructed such that substantially only its lowermost portion would be displaced by a ball, a weight above the lowermost portion maintaining the upper portion of the curtain in place.

Still a further object is to provide a curtain as described which is provided with effective means for it to be swung upwardly in storage position against the ceiling of the bowling alley.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and claims, the scope of the invention not being limited to the drawings themselves as the drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating a way in which the principles of this invention can be applied.

Other embodiments of the invention utilizing the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a bowling alley showing the alley itself and the ceiling in section.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical section of the bowling alley taken transversely of a plurality of elongated alleys with the ceiling and the alleys shown in section, and an assembly of curtains being shown in place, the end ones being broken away.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the lower portion of a curtain of FIGURE 1 as it would be seen in vertical cross section taken lengthwise of the alley.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of an eye screw.

Referring to the drawings, a bowling alley assembly is generally indicated at in FIGURE 1 having a first alley 12 comprising a horizontal upper surface for receiving bowling ball 16 and pins 18.

In accordance with this invention, a vertically hanging curtain generally indicated at 20 is provided having an upper portion 22 and a lower portion 24. The curtain 20 is suspended from the ceiling by any suitable means generally indicated at such as a rod 32 support by eye screws 34, which latter are screwed into the ceiling 40 of the alley assembly 10.

Weight means preferably comprising an elongated pipe 50 is attached to the curtain 20 between the upper portion 22 and the lower portion 24, the pipe 50 preferably being attached to the curtain by horizontal-1y securing strip 52 which is stitched to the curtain on the lower strip at 56 and the upper strip at 58.

An eye bolt fixed to the pipe 50 on the forward sidg of the curtain has a rope 76 attached to it which extends upwardly over pulleys 80 fixed to the ceiling 40 and downwardly to an anchor point 84 at the forward end of the alley.

The lower portion 24 of the curtain is a much smaller portion whereby when the ball 16 strikes it, it will be displaced forwardly by the weight 50 and will prevent the upper portion 22 from being displaced forwardly to the same extent, whereby portion 22 will remain in place sufficiently to prevent visibility of the pins 18 by a bowler.

Referring to FIGURE 2, it will be seen that a second alley 108 disposed alongside the first alley 12 can have a like, or second curtain 110 either spaced from the first curtain Ztl by a space 112 of very small size, or in engagement with curtain 20, this spacing of the curtains 20 and 110 being so small that no visibility of the pins 18 on either alleys 12 or 108 is available between the curtains by persons at the rearward ends of the alleys.

As best seen in FIGURE 1, a camera 200 can be provided at the forward end of the alley and suspended on supports 202 from the ceiling 40, the camera being trained on the pins 18 so that persons in their homes can see the scoring immediately even though the bowler himself cannot see the scoring.

It will be seen that the camera 200 can also be connected to other camera means available to be viewed by persons other than the bowling contestants at the rearward end of the alley who cannot see through the curtain.

In operation and thus described, it will be seen that this invention has provided curtain means for making possible a blind alley bowling game of great novelty and amusement value and has provided a specifically well designed curtain for this purpose.

As the curtain 20 is opaque, it blots visibility of the pins from a bowler disposed in front of it whereby this invention fulfills the objects as described inasmuch as the bowler himself cannot see the pins toward which he is throwing whereby an unusual, new and entertaining game is provided.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that a blind bowling assembly constructed in accordance with my invention is particularly well adapted for use, by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will also be obvious that my invention can be changed and modified without departing from the principles and spirit thereof, and for this reason, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out my invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

1. A bowling alley assembly comprising an elongated alley having an upper horizontal ball-receiving surface normally having a plurality of pins at a forward end thereof, an opaque curtain disposed transversely of said Patented August 16, 1966 a alley in a position between the ends of said alley so as to block visibility of the pins from a bowler, said curtain having an upper section and a lower section, a weight means extending generally transversely of the alley and fixed to said curtain and disposed between said upper and lower sections of said curtain whereby when a thrown ball strikes the lower portion of said curtain and said lower portion is thereby caused to move out of place upwardly, the upper portion of said curtain will tend to be moved out of place to a much lesser extent whereby it will remain in place sufficiently to prevent the curtain from becoming dislocated to the point of permitting visibility of the pins by a bowler, means for supporting said upper section in said transverse disposition, said upper section being significantly larger than said lower section and said References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,677,442 7/1928 Hall 273l8l 2,210,398 8/1940 Dunlap 27337 2,466,103 4/ 1949 Hiester.

3,001,795 9/1961 Johnson 273181 DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

5 ANTON O. OECHSLE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BOWLING ALLEY ASSEMBLY COMPRISING AN ELONGATED ALLEY HAVING AN UPPER HORIZONTAL BALL-RECEIVING SURFACE NORMALLY HAVING A PLURALITY OF PINS AT A FORWARD END THEREOF, AN OPAQUE CURTAIN DISPOSED TRANSVERSELY OF SAID ALLEY IN A POSITION BETWEEN THE ENDS OF SAID ALLEY SO AS TO BLOCK VISIBILITY OF THE PINS FROM A BOWLER, SAID CURTAIN HAVING AN UPPER SECTION AND A LOWER SECTION, A WEIGHT MEANS EXTENDING GENERALLY TRANSVERSELY OF THE ALLEY AND FIXED TO SAID CURTAIN AND DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID UPPER AND LOWER SECTIONS OF SAID CURTAIN WHEREBY WHEN A THROWN BALL STRIKES THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID CURTAIN AND SAID LOWER PORTION IS THEREBY CAUSED TO MOVE OUT OF PLACE UPWARDLY, THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID CURTAIN WILL TEND TO MOVED OUT OF PLACE TO A MUCH LESSER EXTENT WHEREBY IT WILL REMAIN IN PLACE SUFFICIENTLY TO PREVENT THE CURTAIN FROM BECOMING DISLOCATED TO THE POINT OF PERMITTING VISIBILITY OF THE PINS BY A BOWLER, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING SAID UPPER SECTION IN SAID TRANSVERSE DISPOSITION, SAID UPPER SECTION BEING SIGNIFICANTLY LARGER THAN SAID LOWER SECTION AND SAID WEIGHT MEANS BEING DISPOSED SIGNIFICANTLY CLOSER TO SAID BALL-RECEIVING SURFACE THAN TO SAID SUPPORTING MEANS. 